MUSIC giant HMV has officially announced that they will be staying in The Rushes shopping centre for another three months and may even move in permanently.

Originally, HMV, based in the former Zavvi store, said it would be here for the Christmas period only.

However, the store believes Loughborough is a vibrant place in desperate need of a music, games and DVD store and has decided to work with the owners of The Rushes with the possibility of striking up a permanent deal.

This comes in the wake of the news that supermarket giants Tesco will be opening at the former Woolworths site by the end of February creating around 270 jobs for local people.

Duncan Mathieson, managing director of The Rushes, told the Echo: We have agreed with HMV to extend their lease from January for three more months until a permanent deal is sought.

A full-time deal should be done. Retailers, including HMV, have had a good Christmas and we do have a quality scheme in The Rushes. Tesco will be the catalyst for its future and with the likes of HMV and other quality tenants it can only be a success. We will be pushing at the early part of this year to get The Rushes full.

Mr Mathieson even went so far as to predict that the nine remaining vacant units in The Rushes should be full by the end of next year.

Gennaro Castaldo, official spokesman for HMV, added: There has been such a terrific response from music, film and games fans in Loughborough that we have decided to extend trading on our current site beyond Christmas, and are actively considering making it a permanent move.